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Serum XXIPA | DuClaw Brewing Company

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This was poured into a tulip. The appearance was a glossy/semi-hazy burnt orange color with a slim finger’s worth white foamy head that quickly dissipated leaving some clingy messy lacing. The smell had some sweet apricot roaming over top of some light orange and lemon. Wet fresh grassy underneath rides a light caramel maltiness. The taste took all of those previously mentioned flavors to combine and leave a dry fruity aftertaste and finish. On the palate, this one sat about a medium on the body with a fairly decent sessionability about it. Carbonated nicely as a DIPA, the bitterness is there to leave an adequate harshness. Overall, I say this was a pretty good DIPA, nothing over the top, but it fits the style and I like the apricot in it.

As I continue to winnow through the Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody, I am finding beers that I do not even remember purchasing! In fact, I have so many DuClaw beers hanging around that I am embarking on a horizontal tasting for the next few days. This should be interesting.

From the bottle: "Give your palate a big injection of hop bitterness well balanced by malty sweetness with this smooth, medium bodied, copper colored nectar that takes India Pale Ale to the next level. Pop the top and ... get all hopped up"; "Respect_the_Fluid".

I Pop!ped the cap & decided to resume respecting the fluid with a gentle pour. I know that this one was a semi-recent purchase, but since I do not remember precisely when I bought it, I figured that gentility might be in order. Once I had decanted a fair amount of the fluid, I gave it a really vigorous in-glass swirl that raised two-plus fingers of foamy, soapy, light-tan head that hung around briefly and then fell to wisps, leaving great lacing in its wake. Color was a slightly hazy Deep Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17). Nose had a pungent hoppiness, very vegetal and green, almost like a wet hopped AIPA. There was a good bit of pine mintiness also. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was very cool and minty, not exactly pine, more towards wintergreen or Life Savers Cryst-O-Mint. Once more, I felt like I was gargling with mouthwash, especially inhaling after the swallow. The finish was initially cool and dry, but then I got a shot of caramel malt sweetness on the extreme finish. It is, as others have noted, dangerously drinkable and my bottle noted it as 9% ABV. Phew!

12 oz bottle. Pours a dark coppery amber with a thin off-white head. Moderate lacing. Smells floral with pine and some citrus hops and caramel malts. Taste is ditto, with some alcohol burn and bitterness towards the end. Great mouthfeel. I honestly could have 2 or 3 of these, and for a dipa, that's dangerous! Well done DuClaw!!

On tap at Bel Air location. Some east coast brewers can make great IPAs, and this is one of them. In your face bitterness, but buttery smooth on the back end, super thick creamy head, lacing coats the glass. Plenty warm and glowing.